Both online schools and Open Education information and classes afford students the wonderful convenience of never having to step foot inside an actual classroom. Learning can take place anywhere with an Internet connection, no time has to be spent in traffic and studies can take place at the students’ own pace.

However, there is a big difference between the two types of learning. Whereas Open Education is completely free learning, taking online courses is not. Certain factors can make online courses cheaper than courses taken on physical campuses, but at the end of the day, students are paying for instructor time, materials and program costs.

This being the case, why doesn’t everyone simply choose Open Education sites which provide knowledge, lectures and information for free? One of the biggest differences between the two is that most students who pursue knowledge or enroll themselves in courses want, and need, something to show for their efforts – to get a job, to get a better position within a current job, or to get a better job entirely. Open Education courses are usually not credentialed, and they are not usually accepted by employers or universities for credit. In an increasingly competitive world, having a certificate or a degree or some evidence of completion of a course or the mastering of a body of knowledge is becoming more and more important.

Another big difference is that Online Schools provide instructors to guide and facilitate learning, whereas Open Education courses are usually much more independent-spirited; the information is provided for whoever wants to read it, but there are generally few opportunities afforded to ask questions about the information being presented, or to engage with the learning materials. Similarly, many free learning sites are merely warehouses of information that are not organized in any particularly coherent way; users of these sites have to sift through the information to get what they need, and to throw away that which they do not want.

There is certainly something to be said for Open Education sites and free information sites. However, students and those who wish to further their careers must ask important questions about whether or not they are getting what they pay (or aren’t paying) for.

Tags: Learning Technologies, Online Education